Cousins
by just-O
Summary: NO YAOI It's a rainy day and Kyo is sick. I know, lame summary, but whatcha gonna do? My first fic ever. R&R please! Constructive criticism is appreciated. No flames! I'll hunt you down and kick your...umm...oops! Haha! Just kiddng!


**Hey, what's up!? My first fic. Hope you enjoy it. ^_^ Oh, and I tried as best I could to keep them in character, sorry if that didn't happen.**

**Oh and also, obviously I own nothing in relations to Fruits Basket. Duh!**

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLICK-CLICK…CLICK-CLICK…CLICK-CLICK…CLI—CKK!

Kyo finally stopped clicking his pen after ten minutes of boredom; instead, he decided to focus his attention on staring out the window. He looked up towards the sky. It had been cloudy all day so far, and he just had a feeling it'd start raining within a couple hours.

He glanced back at the clock. He groaned. _'Damn. Only 1:42. We still have over an hour left of school. Ugh! If I'm right, which for once I hope I'm not, the rain'll start coming down right in the middle of our walk home.'_

He turned his attention away from the clock and went back to looking out the window. Suddenly a thought came to him, _'Crap! I just remembered that Tohru has work right after school today, and after that she's going with the psychic and the Yankee. Something about a girl's night out…Gah! That means I'm stuck walking home with that dumbass rat! Damn it!_

Kyo groaned internally and continued to stare absentmindedly at the impending rain that loomed just overhead.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ugh," Kyo groaned as they turned a corner and the rain finally started falling. _'Why didn't I think to grab an umbrella this morning?!_'

He thought for a moment before it finally came to him. _'Oh, right…Tohru always grabs them, but she's not here today…'_

As his luck would have it, the rain really started coming down hard within moments of the initial attack, and he was still umbrella-less. Yuki didn't fail to notice the particularly bad weather they were having. He started dreading that he too had forgotten to remember an umbrella since it was now inevitable that they'd be soaked when they got home. As the thought came to him, he suddenly remembered Kyo, and how he usually got on days like this.

'_It seems pretty bad today. I wonder how that idiot cat is doing,' _he thought. Then he heard a few muffled coughs and he looked behind him to see a tired looking Kyo. Actually tired didn't quite cut it…Kyo was about twenty feet behind him. He looked wobbly and he was walking really slow. _'Does he look a little flushed?'_ Yuki thought to himself. From his perspective, Kyo painted a perfect picture of miserable helplessness.

Yuki could tell he wasn't doing well and thought he should wait for the stupid cat even if it meant it would be a much longer walk home that he would've hoped for. As Kyo got closer, Yuki realized that Kyo seemed to be having a hard time breathing; he would know. He'd had asthma attacks since he was very young. He knew it wasn't anything like an attack, but it still looked pretty bad to him since Kyo was traveling at slug speed.

He felt a small twinge of pity as he thought about this, but quickly dismissed the feeling and said, "Do you think you could hurry up, stupid cat? I'd like to get home _today_, if you don't mind."

An almost inaudible grunt was all he got in response. Kyo coughed softly as if he were trying to hold it back and let it go unnoticed, which of course it didn't. His body betrayed him and he went into a coughing fit. Kyo stopped to catch what little breath he'd had and tried to steady himself. To his dismay, he started coughing again and he fell into a kneeling position with his fist clutched to his chest.

Seeing this, Yuki ran over to his cousin and knelt down beside him. "Kyo? Are you alright?" he asked frantically. The cat registered that the rat had just called him by his name, and looked up at him with tired looking eyes and shook his head from side to side.

Bad idea. The sudden shaking of his head had set off a horrible head ache and he started to tip over from dizziness, but he was steadied by Yuki's hand on his shoulder.

"Damn…Rat…Just let…go of me!" Kyo attempted to yell. He failed brutally as this only resulted in his headache worsening. He started to feel light headed.

Yuki stood up and gripped Kyo's forearm to help him stand as well. Kyo stood up, but his condition was obviously worsening and he started to feel nauseous. He promptly dropped to the ground near a bush, and threw up until he was left with dry heaves. That was all the poor cat could handle and he fell over on his side. Still soaking wet, and laying in a puddle.

Yuki knelt down and noticed that he was right before, and that Kyo was definitely pink. He placed a tentative hand on his cousin's already wet forehead and hissed when he felt how warm he was. "Damn! I have to get him home and call Hatori," Yuki muttered to himself as he scooped Kyo up from the ground and started running home. _'Geez! He's sort of heavy. Well, at least Shigure's is only a couple blocks away._

When he finally reached the house, he dropped his bag on the porch and kicked through the door. "Shigure!" he called loud enough so his elder cousin would be able to hear, in case he was sleeping in his "office," pretending to finish his manuscripts.

"My, my…didn't your parents ever teach you how to use an indoor voice, Yuki?" Shigure asked sarcastically as he slowly made his way to Yuki from the Kitchen.

"Shigure! It's Kyo!" Yuki yelled in another desperate attempt to hurry his cousin up. He heard quickened footsteps. _'Well that worked surprisingly well,'_ he thought.

Shigure entered the room and saw Yuki holding Kyo. Both of them soaked from the unrelenting rain storm outside. He walked briskly over to the younger boys and took Kyo from Yuki. "Go put some dry clothes on. We don't need anyone else getting sick today," he ordered as he felt Kyo's forehead.

Yuki nodded in acknowledgement and scurried upstairs to his room. He hurried down a minute later to try and help in whatever way he could.

Shigure had taken Kyo to his room/"office" since it was closest and started taking his wet shirt, shoes, and pants off. When he heard Yuki enter, he turned and said, "Yuki, would you please go get him some dry clothes and after that, I'd like you to bring me a cloth and a bowl of cold water. He has a pretty high fever. I'm sure he was already starting to get sick before it rained this morning, but of course he wouldn't notice. He's too full of pride to think that he could be taken down by the flu." With that, Yuki hurried off again.

Shigure sighed. _'I knew he looked sick this morning. I told him he should just stay home but he obviously didn't take my advice…hmmm, I wonder if he was even listening to me?'_ At this, Shigure gave a shaky smile, and headed over to the phone to call Hatori.

"Oh Hari! It's just awful! Our poor little kitty has fallen ill and is in need of rescue by a handsome prince!" Shigure shouted dramatically into the phone.

{Shigure! Just tell me what's wrong, in normal words…So, Kyo is sick, is he?}

"Yes Hari. He has a terrible fever and when Yuki brought him back he was passed out. He's still sleeping right now, but if you could come over to check on him I'd deeply appreciate it."

{Well, I'll head over there right now since I'm not busy right now. I'll be over in ten minutes.}

"Farewell my dear Hari! I'll look forward to your arrival!"

{Goodbye Shigure…}—Clack!

Yuki walked in and handed the clothes to Shigure. "Thank you Yuki." He went over the Kyo and dressed him in the dryer, warmer clothing. He then picked Kyo up and walked upstairs to his young ward's room, placed him softly in his bed, and covered him up. "Yuki, I just need you to look after him until Hatori gets here. Just keep him cooled down with that wet rag. Make him comfortable," he added pleadingly as he walked back downstairs to wait for Hatori to arrive.

Yuki looked around for a chair but there were none. _'I guess he doesn't need a chair if he's always brooding on the roof,'_ he thought cleverly.

He sat down on the edge of Kyo's bed and wiped away some of the beads of sweat that had formed. He rung out the rag, re-wet it and placed it gently on Kyo's head.

He sat there and just stared down at his usually hot-headed cousin in amazement that someone like Kyo could be taken out by a cold. Yuki tenderly brushed some of the orange hair out of the boys face and smiled when he noticed Kyo's breathing seemed to be steadier. Kyo looked so peaceful as he slept. This made Yuki forget about the fights they had every day until he heard Shigure yelling like an idiot.

"Hari!? I'm so pleased to see you! What a surprise! I'd no idea you would be visiting us on this fine day…"It went on and on.

"Where is he?" Hatori asked, ignoring Shigure's useless ranting.

"I'm afraid our dear cousin has passed on! He…" Shigure continued to act his delusion out, dramatically wiping away non-existent tears.

"He's up here, Hatori," Yuki called down from the banister, interrupting Shigure.

"Thank you Yuki," Hatori answered as he made his way upstairs to Kyo's room. He entered and sway Kyo asleep on the bed with a cool rag on his head. He took the rag off and put his hand on Kyo's forehead. "He has a pretty bad fever, but that should go down in a few days." He proceeded to examine Kyo, and walked back downstairs after his evaluation was complete.

"He seems to have an exceptionally bad case of the flu. So, he'll need to take these pills twice a day for the next 10 days; Make sure he stays hydrated. His fatigue is just one of his usual symptoms on rainy days, so as soon as this rain let's up I'm sure we'll see a distinct improvement in his condition.

"Yuki, I need you to remind Kyo to take these pills until they are all gone. This is important because not finishing his treatment could result in his condition worsening." He handed the pills to Yuki while Shigure fake cried in the corner because of being ignored.

"Hari. I thought I was the adult in this household…Why wouldn't you trust me with poor Kyo's medicine?" he whined.

"That's simple. Yuki is clearly the more responsible choice," Hatori stated bluntly. "Well, I have to be going. I'm sure Akito needs me since I'm gone. I'll let everyone at Sohma house know you say hi."

"Oh, dear Prince! I hope your journey is a safe one! Please come again! We'll look forward to your valiant return! And we will never forget this glorious day! The day you saved…"Shigure continued to ramble on and one as he followed Hatori outside to his car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**One Week Later…**

Kyo was finally back to normal and once again he was stuck walking with Yuki, alone.

Kyo found out about the previous week and how weak he had seemed. He also discovered that the one person he didn't think would care, did. He wanted to know why so he tentatively started with, "So…Last week…?"

Yuki stopped and turned around, "umm…yeah?"

"You…I…I mean…well, um, thanks," Kyo said, bashfully turning to face the other way.

Yuki blushed, looked down and away, and said, "Uh, sure. No problem…"

Kyo then whipped around and asked questioningly, "So, why _did_ you help me?"

Yuki raised an eyebrow and replied, "I'm not that heartless, you stupid cat. I mean you are my cousin afterall…"

Kyo nodded slowly as he took that in and the two of them continued of their peaceful walk home…or maybe not so peaceful walk home…

"You're still an idiot."

"Shaddup! You bastard rat! I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"I'm sure you won't."

"Oh yeah?! Let's take this outside rat boy!"

"We are outside, stupid."

"Gah! That's exactly what I'm talking about. You think you're better than me?!"

"I don't think. I know, seeing as you still haven't beaten me once."

The two of them continued to bicker the whole way home. Both of them acknowledged the bond between them and knew that the other would be there when it really mattered. No matter how much they fought, they still cared about each other, but they could never let anyone else know.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I hope I did okay! Please Review, and thanks for reading! ^_^ Kudos! (they're delicious!)**


End file.
